Christmas Week 2008

Although we missed Aunt Megan...Gram, Pop and Holly made up for her Holiday absence. We put Pop to work right when he arrived on "around the house projects". He hung shelves in an unfinished closet, found an attic we never knew we had:)), put up a display unit in for Aston's "special cars", helped set up the new train table on Christmas Eve and the biggest project was putting a new full size door in to our storage room! Gram and Holly the dog were in charge of babysitting!

For Christmas Eve we went to Aunt Wooks and Uncle Jay's house for some amazing pasta dishes. Aston ate like 2 or 3 of Uncle Jay's xlarge famous meatballs..."mmmm" he exclaimed after every bite! BB made some more of her Panettone that is now already famous too and she's only made it 2x! This is also a new Aston favorite:) Everything was so yum! Thanks Wook and Jay!

Aston got up late at 8am on Christmas morning. Clearly we don't fully understand Christmas quite yet:)

Daddy made a frittata with fridge leftovers...then on to stockings! Aston only had like 8 items in his stocking but it took all morning because he stopped to play with each item for like 15 minutes each!
Some of the Stocking Video:

The last item that was tucked way into the toe (we planned it that way) was Thomas the Train! When he pulled out Thomas we rushed him upstairs to show him is BIG gift...his new Train Table! He walked into his new play room (we spent the last month cleaning out the bonus room...the biggest room in our house that has been nothing more than storage for 7+ years!)...and exclaimed "WOHOA...CHOO CHOO"! Not sure who was more excited Aston or us but he has not stopped playing with it since Christmas so we consider that a success!
This is the first Train Sighting:


We were able to squeeze in more gifts and a "rockin'" ride in the convertible (it was 70 degrees!) before nap time...
Convertible Old School Hip Hop Dancin':

Pop gave him a race track and Gram gave him a new Automoblox so from then on he assumed any present that one opens must be "brrrrm brrrm" related...:) Mister one track mind.

After nap we rushed over to BB and Babs for MORE presents! Wookie and Jay gave Aston Kota the Triceratops. We walked by Kota several times at Costco over the past few months and he has always been intrigued yet nervous. When we opened Kota at BB and Babs he got very nervous at first and wouldn't go near his new friend...towards the end of the night there were signs of getting a little more comfortable...but we have a ways to go! Tai Grandma and Tai Yeh got Aston Mack from the Cars movie...Mack was quickly added to the top of the favorite car list. BB and Babs gave Aston a ride on Thomas the Train set including tracks and music!
Here's video:


BB made a Holiday meal to remember complete with duck, beef, fish, veggies, roasted potatoes, lobster dumplings, soup, Bouche de Noel and more! Ugh, I get full thinking about it!

Gram left on Friday and arrived home safely and timely considering the weather in the NE + the NW. Pop finished up his project yesterday and left this morning after we all meet the Bolduc's (old friends of Pop who also now have Grandchildren who live in the Charlotte area) for breakfast across the street. Now the house is empty and Aston keeps walking around saying "Pop Pop" or "Ha Ha" (for Holly)...sooo sad:(